subject: Healthier Eating With a Food Processor [print this page] Healthier Eating With a Food Processor Healthier Eating With a Food Processor
With the rise in availability of organic foods and increased statistics of obesity many people are turning to healthier options for their meals. But trying to be healthier can be daunting if it means more time preparing meals, higher grocery bills and unhappy diners.
Choosing healthier food doesn't mean you have to work more and spend more. With a food processor, you can quickly add healthier ingredients to your meals.
Do Food Processors Really Work?
Yes. And, they aren't the huge monster appliances they were 40 years ago. I live in a small house where appliances only stay if they are functional, useful and small. My food processor is great because it is only eight inches tall by four inches wide. That's smaller than my toaster. And, it's a better machine than many of my appliances because it's quick, it's easy to clean and it speeds up my preparation time.
Can't I just Use a Blender?
Technically, yes. But, you wouldn't be able to process the foods as quickly and it would probably be much harder to clean. With a small food processor, you can even grind coffee and clean it without any residue remaining. My blender couldn't do that.
How Do You Use a Food Processor To Make Healthier Meals?
There are a wide variety of cookbooks available with recipes that call for adding purees. This is one of the simplest ways to start. By adding a squash puree to your spaghetti sauce (yes, even the canned ones), you increase your vegetables by at least a serving without tasting it. By increasing your vegetables, you are also increasing your fiber. Purees can be added to a variety of foods as a way to increase your daily vegetable intake without actually having to eat mounds of vegetables.
Beyond adding purees, with a food processor you can make your own salsas, dips, icings and other foods with fresh natural ingredients. This allows you to bypass the preservatives and extra sugars added to many processed foods to increase their shelf lives. The food processor is also great for chopping onions, grating cheese or helping you quickly get your ingredients ready for your recipes. And, with the easy clean up, you won't spend hours scrubbing small parts. If you have small children just starting to eat solid foods, the food processor is a wonderful tool for making your own baby food. And, if you make an extra batch of pureed squash or carrots, you can add it to your own meal.
The food processor is small enough to fit in your kitchen and hard working enough that you will want to use it all the time. It is made so that you can put it in the dishwasher at night and pull it out in the morning to make your own huevos rancheros with fresh homemade salsa. Eating healthy was never so much fun!
